paiN, currently playing in ESEA Advanced, upset number six ranked Liquid 2-1 in the Dreamhack Open March semifinals.
The Brazilian side now had the opportunity to defend their Dreamhack Open January title against Extra Salt in a best-of-five final.
The 2-1 victory comes just six months after the team moved to NA. Visa issues from Paulo “land1n” Felipe forced the team to move him to the bench, and add Rafael “saffee” Costa, formerly of New England Whalers.
Dust 2 was saffee’s first-ever map against a legitimate tier-one team, but the Brazilian showed he belonged with a 2.07 rating at the end of the map. His 33 kills helped his team take the map 16-10.
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The map loss served as a massive wake-up call for Team Liquid, which quickly tried to reassert its dominance on Overpass. Jonathan “EliGe” Jablonowski paved the way to a 12-3 halftime score. EliGe’s statline of 22 kills and 7 deaths with 143 ADR rivaled the performance of saffee.
Liquid only lost one round in the second half and secured Overpass 16-4, tying the series 1-1.
Inferno would decide which team would punch their ticket to the finals. paiN started off strong on the T-side, going up 6-1. Liquid adapted and managed to close the gap to three rounds going into halftime.
The death sentence for Liquid came in the second half when paiN managed to steal a round despite only having three rifles.
Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt led the way for the Brazilians with 24 kills and 102.5 ADR.
Thrilled by the victory, Gabriel “NEKIZ” Schenato said: “[…] our team is so powerful, we’re so talented, and I knew that we were going to win.”
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Image credit: Dfuseteam